


I Know We're Not, Like, Together

by Kioee



Category: Free!
Genre: M/M, and man rin is such a nerd, but i remembered, like this was from way back in november, oh gosh i just saw the prompt and knew i had to do it, valentine's fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-14
Updated: 2014-02-14
Packaged: 2018-01-12 08:10:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 722
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1183934
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kioee/pseuds/Kioee
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Valentine's Day is weird when you're not really dating someone but you want them to know how you feel</p>
            </blockquote>





	I Know We're Not, Like, Together

**Author's Note:**

> From [this](http://reithebutterfly.tumblr.com/post/68129687405/dorkmeganes-i-have-a-mighty-need-for-a) post from [midotakaism](http://midotakaism.tumblr.com/) (from their previous blog dorkmeganes)

Letting Rei decide what their relationship was maybe wasn’t the best of plans. Sure, Rin didn’t want to presume anything and it’s not like he had the presence of mind to ask in such a direct way, and figuring out how he felt about the whole thing was complicated enough. Rin didn’t do a lot of personal reflection and on more than one occasion it was Rei asking just the right question to make him really think about why he felt a certain way. But leaving that guy in charge of deciding how they felt about each other may have been the wrong way to go about things. Rin wasn’t even completely sure of his own feelings.

It had been a few months since the failed lesson and the brief conversation on the nature of their relationship and it seemed like Rei had settled in the middle ground of either friendly rivals or competitive friends. It had gotten too cold for more pool time at Iwatobi and Rin would have to get special permission and schedule time at the Samezuka pool. 

Even so, he found himself spending a lot of time with Rei, and not just with their other friends. They both enjoyed reading self-improvement books, and had taken to giving each other suggestions and trading back and forth. It was kind of nice to be around the guy. He was definitely a pain and once he got going on a subject he had troubles stopping, but more and more Rin would catch himself actually listening to Rei’s long rambles on a multitude of subjects. Spending time together felt a bit like dating without actually dating.

This whole thing made the upcoming Valentine’s Day a thing that Rin didn’t really want to deal with. He and Rei weren’t together and it would be weird to give him chocolate like girls usually did for boys they liked. Rin wasn’t even completely sure he liked Rei that way. Forget the fact that he couldn’t know what the hell Rei was feeling. He just had to do something, though.

And sometimes life is weird and delivers exactly what is needed. It was a really stupid card, but Rin had found one that took the words right out of his mouth, so if the card was stupid so was Rin. 

He met the others at Haru’s house after school. Nagisa and Makoto had gotten a lot of chocolate. Haru got some, but that was predictable of someone wasn’t as friendly or outgoing as the other two. Haru was just Haru. Rei had managed to get a fairly good haul of chocolate and Nagisa had teased him about how many girls always whispered about his good looks.

Rin was beginning to feel stupid about this whole thing. He couldn’t give the card to Rei in front of everybody, but he didn’t know how to get him on his own without it being suspicious. He was about to give up on the whole idea since everybody was going home, but on the way to the train station he grabbed onto Rei’s arm, pulling him back from Nagisa and Makoto.

“Hey, I got this for you.”

Rei looked a bit confused but took the envelope and read the card.

 

_I know we’re not, like, together or anything but it just felt weird not to say anything so I got you this card. It’s not a big deal. It doesn’t really mean anything. There isn’t even a heart on it. So basically it’s a card saying hi. Forget it._

A touch of pink tinted his cheeks as he looked back at Rin. “Thank you very much. I really appreciate that you thought of me today, and I’m very sorry that I didn’t get anything for you. I wasn’t sure if that was okay for us.” 

Rin was looking at the ground, not wanting the eye contact. “Well, I guess now we know.”

“My afternoon is free tomorrow if you wanted to go to this little tea shop I know of. It’s near a book store, so we could go there, too. I know there’s a new book about team dynamics that has seen some good reviews and I wanted to check it out.”

“Yeah, that sounds good.”

Their relationship still wasn’t something clearly defined, but Rin enjoyed what they had.


End file.
